Google Chrome to Get Tab Groups, Scrollable Tabs in Future Updates: Reports

Google Chrome is reportedly getting two new features that will help alleviate one of the biggest issues that the browser's users face during intense sessions - tab cluttering. As per certain sightings and reports online, Google Chrome is all set to get features such as tab groups and scrollable tabs bar to get rid of limitations in the current UI. Notably, these two features have been available on Mozilla Firefox, one of Chrome's biggest competitors globally. The version which will get these updates has not been officially confirmed by Google yet.

A report from ChromeStory cites an official Google code change request and a linked bug report to claim that Google is finally bringing tab grouping to Chrome, however the feature is currently in its early stages of development. “Users can organize tabs into visually distinct groups, e.g. to separate tabs associated with different tasks,” describes the bug report page. There are some third-party Chrome extensions that can sort of do that, but nothing native is yet on offer.

The details of the feature are not known yet, but it could allow you to group your Chrome tabs based on section or category of the URL. It might also be a feature that bookmarks your most frequented tabs for easy access. The details will likely be clearer when the Canary version (unstable) and, subsequently, the stable versions roll out. The bug report was updated with the phrase “Group-Tabstrip” just yesterday. Firefox removed the tab grouping feature with the launch of the Quantum engine in 2017, claiming the feature wasn't use by most of its users, ZDNet notes.

Next, Google might also be bringing the ability to scroll through tabs on the Google Chrome browser. This was revealed by Peter Casting, who, Techdows says, is an engineer in the Google Chrome team. In a reply on a Reddit thread, Casting said, “Scrollable tabstrip is in the works. In the meantime, try using shift-clicking and ctrl-clicking to select multiple tabs at once, then drag out to separate windows to group tabs by window.” Scrollable tabstrip are currently available on the Firefox, Edge, and Safari browsers.